The Silver Seas Set To Release Sophomore LP â€œHigh Societyâ€ November 13th on Cheap Lullaby Records

Brooklyn Vegan- June 07 â€œTheir latest album “High Society” is like a soft rock (in a good way) record out of the 70’s that is so pleasant, it’s kind of impossible not to like. They’ve been compared to James Taylor, Jackson Browne, The Beach Boys, and Van Morrison. One of the highlights on the album is the song “Imaginary Girlâ€.

The Silver Seas debut LP High Society, opens up with â€œCountry Lifeâ€ an upbeat, fish-out-of-water story â€“ a hipster city slickerâ€™s version of Green Acres, if you will â€“ that could indeed double as a jaunty sit-com theme. But the title track, which follows, is its darker, yearning flipside. With tunes about outsider guys longing for girls who are just out of their reach or their income bracket, High Society has remarkable emotional depth, even if the arrangements –which boast layers of harmonies from all four band members, jangly 12-string acoustic guitar solos, and shimmering keyboard touches – – have such an easygoing feel.

Daniel Tashian, lead singer and chief songwriter of Nashville-based quartet The Silver Seas, claims that the inspiration for the bittersweet pop songs on the groupâ€™s Cheap Lullaby debut didnâ€™t come from a romantic breakup, some unrequited love or any of the typical catalysts for tunes like these, which teeter thrillingly between hopefulness and heartbreak. Tashian says it was sitcoms.

â€œI was wishing someone would hear one of my songs and pick it up for a sitcom theme,â€ Tashian confesses. â€œThere is something about that music â€“ songs from The Odd Couple, Laverne and Shirley, the Pink Panther cartoons â€“that got ingrained in my brain.â€

Tashian, whoâ€™d been reading Evelyn Waugh and P.G. Wodehouse while he wrote these songs, is decidedly more Tin Pan Alley than most singer/ songwriters. Heâ€™s got a knack for creating instantly memorable melodies to pair with often plaintive lyrics, though heâ€™s no show-off; his craftsmanship seems effortless, as if he just dashed off these sneakily addictive numbers in his spare time.—the cocktail-hour croon of â€œWeâ€™ll Go Walking,â€ the country rock of â€œCatch Your Own Train,â€ the breezy romanticism of â€œImaginary Girl,â€ which, come to think of it, would have made a great theme to the classic â€˜60s sitcom The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis.

High Society was recorded in two days at Sound Emporium Studio A in Nashville, which played host to R.E.M, when they were making Document. Along with Tashian and Lehning, The Silver Seas feature John Deaderick on electric bass and David Gehrke on drums. After the foursome had rehearsed and gigged enough to get comfortable with the new material, Lehning gathered his band-mates in one large room at the studio to cut these tracks live. Admits Lehning, â€œWe didnâ€™t have any money, so this was designed for us to get done fast.â€ He later added home studio overdubs and cut some more vocals. For the most part, though, the resulting album reflects one inspired weekendâ€™s worth of intense recording.

BIO

The Silver Seas is the brainchild of lead singer and guitarist, Daniel Tashian, and Grammy-winning producer, arranger and keyboardist Jason Lehning. Both were raised deep within the Nashville music scene. While the young Lehning apprenticed behind the boards, Tashian was developing into a formidable singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He signed with Elektra Records and, in 1996, released his solo debut, Sweetie, produced by T-Bone Burnett.

Lehning and Tashian first met briefly by chance before choosing to work together. Tashian laughingly says he had â€œan allergic reactionâ€ to Lehning, but something about their exchange stuck. Lehning continues, â€œDaniel called me out of the blue one day with his idea for the band, saying â€˜I have this sound in my head, and I know who I want to be a part of it. Would you help me get started?â€™â€

Tashian says, â€œJason came over to my house and I played him â€˜Message From the Birdsâ€™ and â€˜Sea of Starsâ€™â€ â€“ both of which appear on the groupâ€™s 2004 debut, Starry Gazey Pie, self-released under its former band name, The Bees (U.S) â€“â€œand he said, â€™Yeah lets do it.â€™ Then I told him I always wanted to do something with the drummer David Gehrke, and we got him in, and we were off and running.â€

Upright bassist Robbie Harrington was part of the original lineup and played on the debut CD; then electric bassist Deaderick stepped in. Starry Gazey Pie garnered airplay on stations like Bostonâ€™s WFNX and L.A.â€™s KCRW and critical kudos from the press. For a time, the self-pressed disc was so hard to find that original copies were fetching premium prices on eBay. High Society began to circulate in a similar fashion, but a tour with Guster and lots of local gigs, praised by publications like Nashville Scene, brought the group a wider following and a record deal.